WE all know how important sport is, and how much children can enjoy taking part in games and play. It’s good for their physical and mental health, encourages teamwork, focus and commitment, and can even lead to a career.

But, sadly, some young people’s experience with youth sport can be very different. We have all read accounts of sports coaches who have physically, emotionally or sexually abused young people in their care.

This week (October 3-9) the NSPCC is running Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport Week, with support from the Football Association and Sir Bradley Wiggins, who recently revealed he experienced abuse in a sporting environment as a child.

New polling by YouGov found that almost a fifth of parents weren’t confident they’d be able to spot the signs if their child was being abused at a sports club. The poll also found that one in 10 weren’t confident they’d know how to raise any concerns with their child’s sports club.

This week’s campaign offers advice and information to parents to help give them the confidence to raise safeguarding concerns, sport signs of potential abuse and keep children safer in sport. Free tips and advice are available from the NSPCC and our Child Protection in Sport Unit, We want to ensure all parents and carers know the safeguarding questions to ask, and how to raise concerns. As well as the FA and Sir Bradley Wiggins, sports clubs are supporting the campaign via social media, and virtual webinars for parents are offered to promote safeguarding in youth sport.

For many young people, playing at a local grassroots sports club is the start of a lifelong love for sport, and we want to make sure they can enjoy sport in an environment that’s safe from harm. Strong safeguarding policies in sports clubs and good parental awareness make it much harder for abusers to target children in these environments.

Calls to the NSPCC Helpline from adults concerned about a child in a sporting environment have almost doubled over the last five years. Our Helpline is also available for adults who suffered abuse when they were younger. One adult told us they developed an eating disorder after becoming “obsessed with diets” when the gymnastics club they attended as a child began weighing members twice a week, with coaches shouting at children whose weights were above targets.

Every child should be able to enjoy sport without the risk of abuse. To support the NSPCC’s Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport Week use #SafeInSport. Visit nspcc.org.uk/safeinsport